FAU’s Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education Honors Educators

Image: Arthur Gutterman and Linda Medvin, Director of the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE)

The Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE) at Florida Atlantic recently announced the Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educator Awards for 2024. The educators will be recognized at the 15 ^th annual award dinner honoring outstanding Holocaust educators on Monday, Oct. 28 at Marriott Boca Raton.

This year’s recipients include:

• Broward County Public Schools: Helise Gailboord of Cooper City High School
• Palm Beach County Public Schools: Daniel Campbell of Crestwood Middle School
• Martin County Public Schools: Natalie Smith Williams of Jensen Beach High School High School
• David Posnack Jewish Day School, Hochberg Lower School: Ilanit Zohar Abati

The award recognizes educators who have demonstrated a positive impact on their respective schools and the wider community in the field of Holocaust, genocide and human rights education. It honors individuals who, by their example and through teaching about these difficult subjects, strengthen South Florida students’ world citizenship and capacity to uphold the dignity of all persons.

Through the generosity of the Arthur Gutterman family, the award enables recipients to participate in an educator field study to Holocaust sites. This years’ recipients will travel with educator award winners from 2023 during summer 2025.

 “Each year, for the past 15 years, we have celebrated the accomplishments of outstanding teachers who go above and beyond the requirements of the Holocaust education mandate and are truly making a difference in the lives of their students, in their schools and in the world,” said Linda Medvin, director of the CHHRE. “Many things have changed but we know that education is the best hope against hatred and the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center is committed to continue our mission to keep the hope alive.”

The CHHRE is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote respect for all people through the study of Holocaust, genocide and human rights, is an integral unit of FAU’s Peace, Justice and Human Rights Center , and serves as a Designated Site of the Florida Department of Education Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education and as a partner in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Community of Holocaust Education Centers.

The CHHRE will be part of the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building that will be located at FAU’s Boca Raton campus. The building, slated for groundbreaking in January 2025, will also house the the Peace, Justice and Human Rights Center, the Herbert and Elaine Gimelstob Eminent Scholar in Jewish Studies, the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar in Holocaust Studies, and the Leon Charney Diplomacy Program.

The CHHRE relies exclusively on private donations to provide professional learning programs and classroom resources for teachers and students, and community programs to support the mandated instruction of the Holocaust required by Florida law.

Programs include teacher workshops, Holocaust Summer Institute, and an annual trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as well as programming open to the community and FAU students, faculty and staff. The CHHRE serves K-12 educators in public, private, charter, parochial and Jewish day schools throughout Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin, and Glades counties.

For more information about the CHHRE, visit www.fau.edu/artsandletters/pjhr/chhre/ , or contact Linda Medvin at 561-297-2929 or lmedvin@fau.edu .

For information about the annual Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educator Awards Dinner, contact Ellen Sax at 561 297-0849 or esax@fau.edu